flickr/Mail Order Mystic

The scene at today's D.C. Taxicab Commission became more than a little dramatic, as you can see in the video below. Two journalists were arrested during the testimony of the Equal Rights Center for recording the hearing, which they were simply doing the whole time. Officials are still investigating what happened, but you can see for yourself the chaos that resulted, thanks to video from the Equal Rights Center.

As I wrote yesterday, the Equal Rights Center was at the two-hour hearing, held from 10 a.m. to noon at the U.S. Park Police Building, to testify against the discrimination that the capital's capital drivers allegedly demonstrate against African-Americans and people with guide dogs when selecting their customers.

Today, two reporters--Pete Tucker from The Fightback and Jim Epstein from Reason, according to DCist--attempted to record the event, via picture, audio, and video recording, of the Equal Rights Center testimony and found themselves arrested.  "The attendees all attempted to protest the arrest and block the door," the ERC's communications manager Ashley White told me in an e-mail. "I took a video--luckily made it out without handcuffs."

Read the ERC's testimony posted online here (PDF) and be sure to watch the video--it's a doozy.